Documents of the Right Word

A collection of small books written by Sunni scholars for answering Shi'a claims.

in Ajra, and

in Ajra, and others. They expressed their sorrow by saying, “If we had known that the results would be so bad, we would have protected hadrat ’Uthmân against these bandits.” Upon hearing about this, the murderers decided to martyr these Sahâbîs, too. So the Sahâbîs went to the blessed city of Mekka, where hadrat Âisha, who had come to Mekka earlier for the purpose of making hajj, gave them asylum. They told her what was going on in Medîna and said, “The Khalîfa has to tolerate the bandits till he has suppressed the mutiny completely. This spoils them and causes them to aggravate their inimical and oppressive conduct. Bloodshed will not be prevented unless a retaliation is realized and the oppressors are punished.” Hadrat Âisha advised them, “It will not be wise for you to go back to Medîna as long as these bandits remain in Medîna and around the Emîr-ul-mu’minîn. Go to a safer place for the time being. Wait for a favourable opportunity and in the meantime search ways of rescuing Alî from the hands ofthese bandits. Exploit the first situation offering you the opportunity to cooperate with the Khalîfa and march against the bandits. Then it will be easy for you to arrest the murderers for retaliation. Thus you will teach the cruel a lesson whose effects will remain till the end ofthe world! It will not be easy now. Do not hurry.” The Sahâbîs approved these words of hadrat Âisha’s. They decided to go to places such as Iraq and Basra, where were the assembly areas for Muslim troops. They begged hadrat Âisha, “Please protect us until this fitna has been eliminated, the tumults have been suppressed and we have joined the Khalîfa. You are the mother of Muslims and the venerable wife ofthe Messenger of Allah. You are closer and more beloved to him than anyone else is. Since everybody respects you, the bandits cannot march against you. Stay with us and support us!” For the sake of convenience for Muslims and to protect Rasûlullah’s Sahâba, hadrat Âisha joined them and together they left for Basra. On the other hand, the murderers, who had been surrounding the Khalîfa and meddling with many administrative matters, gave hadrat Alî quite a different and false report of this movement. They persuaded the Khalîfa to go to Basra. Some Sahâbîs such as Imâm-i-Hasan, Imâm-i-Huseyn, Abdullah bin Ja’fer Tayyâr and Abdullah bin Abbâs advised the Khalîfa not to hurry and not to believe the munâfiqs’ reports. Yet the munâfiqs overpowered and managed to take hadrat Emîr to Basra. First he sent someone named Qa’qa’ to ask the people with hadrat Âisha what they thought. They answered that their purpose was peace and to – 264 –

prevent fitna and that the murderers should be arrested first. The Khalîfa accepted their wishes. Upon this, Muslims from both sides rejoiced and agreed to come together three days later. As the time oftheir meeting became closer, the murderers heard about this agreement. At a loss as to what to do, they assembled around their leader, the Jew named Abdullah bin Saba’, and asked him what they should do to prevent this meeting. “Our last resort is to attack the Khalîfa’s army tonight and then go to the Khalîfa and tell him that people with Âisha did not keep their promise and raided us,” was the Jew’s plan. The plan was executed successfully and then, as it was planned, another troop of horsemen raided the other party. Upon this the spies who had infiltrated among them beforehand clamoured as if they were their friends: “The Khalîfa did not keep his promise. We have been raided.” So the war began. This was how the event called Camel war broke out. Qurtubî and other Sunnite historians write so, and it is true. Enemies ofthe As-hâb-i-kirâm, on the other hand, falsify the facts in order to defend the murderers. Their lies should not be believed. Another person who was ofthe opinion that the murderers should be arrested and retaliated against, was Mu’âwiya ‘radiy- Allâhu anh’, the governor of Damascus. Because the tumult had not been suppressed yet and the Khalîfa was too busy with the event of Camel to do anything else, he had to refuse his suggestion. And Mu’âwiya, in his turn, refused to recognize him as the Khalîfa. As it is written also in the Shiite book Nahj-ul-belâgha, the Khalîfa stated, “We shall (have to) fight our brothers in Islam. They have deviated from the right way.” As is seen, those who fought the battles of Camel and Siffîn never thought of hurting hadrat Alî ‘kerrem-Allâhu wejheh’. The only feeling fostered by both parties was obeying the commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ and preventing the fitna. Yet talons of Zionism managed bloodbaths on both sides. In the hundred and twenty-third page ofthe book Tezkire-i Kurtubî Muhtasar›, a hadîth-i-sherîf reported by Muslim is quoted. It reads as follows: “If Muslims fight one another, the ones who are killed as well as their killers will go to Hell.” According to scholars, this hadîth-i-sherîf means those who fight for worldly advantages. It does not mean fighting for an Islamic cause, for eliminating vices or for subduing rebels. As a matter of fact, another hadîth-i-sherîf states, “If you fight for worldly advantages, both the killer and the one killed will be in Hell.” This – 265 –